Pages

Monday, January 6, 2014

Plans for the Kitchen

I have a few plans to give our kitchen an inexpensive face lift over the next few weeks and I'm so excited to get started!But first, here's how the kitchen looked when we moved in five years ago.We did some mini-renovations during our first few months of ownership. We painted the cabinets, replaced the linoleum floor, installed butcher block style counters and widened the door between the kitchen and living room. OK, so Jesse did most of that stuff...But I'm a good helper!Some folks might think it's a shame I painted over the wood cabinets, but they were not in good shape and replacing them is not in the financial plan, so to speak. I painted them "molasses" brown, which isn't terrible but I'm aiming for particular aesthetic - so it's gotta go!Speaking of financial plan, the counter tops cost next to nothing. Jesse purchased old work benches from a local factory (they were downsizing operations) and re-finished them. He also built the little counter height seating area which added a lot of work and hang out space.So that's how the kitchen looked then and how it looks now.

Here's my project plan: - paint back splash with chalkboard paint, maybe follow up with a nifty but simple design Confession: I've already started this ;) - remove scallop style trim pieces - paint cabinets white - replace cabinet hardware?That's it! There are other things I'd like to do, but we are being careful about how much money we put into the house. We live in an nice middle class neighborhood, but when it comes time to sell, I don't think we'd get our money back for premium tile or granite counter tops; it would be out of place with the market. :)

A few of my inspiration pics are below and here - wish me luck! Painting those cabinets is going to be tedious!